Second bar in Penwortham asks for its opening hours to be on a par with neighbours

No 16 on the Hill is the latest to complain its opening hours, granted by South Ribble, are different to its licensing times.

And the corner bar at the junction of Liverpool Road and Priory Lane has also asked the planning committee to lift its ban on the use of patio heaters, claiming others on the main street are allowed to have them in their outdoor drinking areas.

In an application to amend its planning restrictions the bar says its opening times are an hour less on Friday nights than those on its drinks licence.

It is the second Penwortham venue in just over a month to ask the same question: Why does the council's planning committee insist on 11pm closing when the same authority's licensing committee allows drinking until midnight?

GinJarAle, three doors away, successfully applied to have its Friday opening hours extended to midnight.

The same bar also fought a successful campaign in 2020 to have the times customers can sit outside brought up to par with neighbouring bars after the council mysteriously allowed it two hours less.

No 16 says in its request: " Closing the venue at 23:00 has had a detrimental affect on us financially as we're having to begin closing at 22:15 to ensure the venue is empty by 23:00.

"It has also led to more people being out on Liverpool Road at exactly the same time as opposed to closing at 00:00 which allowed the venue to naturally empty after 23:00.

"We're applying for this to be amended so that our Friday planning hours are aligned with our licensing hours."

On the patio heaters ban, an issue that a number of other bars have challenged in the past, the owners explain: "We wish for (the) condition to be removed in order to allow us to maximise our outdoor space during cooler months.

"As a business we feel we'd be more sustainable if we can increase the options for use of our outdoor seating throughout the year.

"This would also bring our outdoor area in line with other leisure venues in Penwortham that have been able to make use of outdoor heating to allow them to maximise their business."